GM's Mary Barra: I don't have any answers, but I'm 'deeply sorry'

Opening statement to Congressional panel is contrite but vague

GM Chief Executive Mary Barra on Tuesday is scheduled to go before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and try to answer questions about the company's massive recall of vehicles for faulty ignition switches that can shut the car down during driving.

At least 12 deaths are linked to the problem, which GM has known about for years but failed to act.

Following is Barra's planned opening statement to the Subcommittee On Oversight And Investigations.

Chairmen Murphy and Upton, Ranking Members DeGette and Waxman, members of the
committee…

My name is Mary Barra, and I am the Chief Executive Officer of General Motors.
I appreciate the opportunity to be here today.

More than a decade ago, GM embarked on a small-car program. Sitting here today, I cannot tell you why it took years for a safety defect to be announced in that program, but I can tell you that
we will find out.

When we have answers, we will be fully transparent with you, with our regulators, and with our
customers.
As soon as l learned about the problem, we acted without hesitation. We told the world we had
a problem that needed to be fixed. We did so because whatever mistakes were made in the
past, we will not shirk from our responsibilities now and in the future. Today’s GM will do the right thing.

That begins with my sincere apologies to everyone who has been affected by this recall…
especially to the families and friends of those who lost their lives or were injured. I am deeply
sorry.

I’ve asked former U.S. Attorney Anton Valukas to conduct a thorough and unimpeded
investigation of the actions of General Motors. He has free rein to go where the facts take him,
regardless of the outcome. The facts will be the facts. Once they are in, my management team
and I will use his findings to help assure this does not happen again. We will hold ourselves fully
accountable.

However, I want to stress that I’m not waiting for his results to make changes.
I’ve named a new vice president for Global Vehicle Safety, Jeff Boyer . This is a first for GM. Jeff’s first priority is to quickly identify and resolve any
and all product safety issues. He is not taking on this task alone. I stand with him. My senior
management team stands with him. And we will welcome input from outside GM — from you,
from NHTSA, from Mr. Valukas’ findings, from our customers, from our dealers, and from our
current and former employees.

This latest round of recalls demonstrates just how serious we are about the way we will do
things at the new GM. We identified these issues. We brought them forward and we are fixing
them. I have asked our team to keep stressing the system at GM and work with one thing in
mind — our customers and their safety are at the center of everything we do.

CUSTOMERS

Our customers who have been affected by this recall are getting our full and undivided attention.
We’re talking directly to them through a dedicated website, with constantly updated information,
and through social media platforms. We’ve trained and assigned more people to our customer
call centers, and wait times are down to seconds. And, of course, we’re sending customers
written information through the mail.

These measures are only the first in making things right and rebuilding trust with our customers.
As I’ve reminded our employees, getting the cars repaired is only the first step. Giving
customers the best support possible throughout this process is how we will be judged.
I would like this committee to know that all of our GM employees and I are determined to set a
new standard. And I am encouraged to say that everyone at GM—up to and including our Board
of Directors—supports this.

I’m a second-generation GM employee and I’m here as the CEO, but I’m also here representing
the men and women who are part of today’s GM and are dedicated to putting the highest-quality
and safest vehicles on the road.

I recently held a town hall meeting to formally introduce our new VP of global vehicle safety to
the company. We met at our Technical Center, one of the places where the men and women
who engineer our vehicles work. They are the brains behind our cars, but they are also the heart
of GM.

It was a tough meeting. Like me, they are disappointed and upset. I could see it in their faces,
and could hear it in their voices. They had many of the same questions that I suspect are on
your minds. They want to make things better for our customers, and in the process, make GM
better.

That’s what I’m committed to doing.
I would now be happy to answer your questions.
Thank you.

Basically she has said nothing of any import an that's to be expected. GM is following the script, Mary acting the part and nothing of substance forthcoming - anyone surprised? The industry learned a lot from the Toyota debacle. What GM/Mary is doing is just scripted damage control; there needs to be a criminal investigation and major fines at the end of this 13 saga in making.

Easy answer there, when they noticed the problem,, GM was already sinking asking for help. They could not afford telling the news about the problem at that time or the company would have just died there. Was it a better decision? Not at all, that's what you get for playing with fire, I won't pity you GM, go give a huge amount of cash to the families who lost people, they deserve it.

The only way to force GM to act responsibly would be for the Government to press criminal charges. Now that the Government no longer owns GM, they actually could. Of course, this despicable behavior occurred, at least in part, during the time the Government owned GM, so maybe the Government should press charges against the Government bureaucrats that decided to buy GM.

One thing about this situation is that when ever you are in to manufacturing machinery you can always expect some recall or failure at some sort even Toyota in which has been the most reliable and safest car for years has had it share of problems and fatalities.. this particular part could have been made over sea's because not all parts for vehicles are made in house or in America that's with every car maker and until you know and understand about engineering which can be complicated at times then you can relate to this major issue!!!

Good! I want Mary Barra to take this by the reigns, air out all of the dirty laundry, including throwing a lot of people under the bus! How would those former CEO/executives/engineers who knew about this and hushed it up feel when GM goes after them?

By being proactive, I definitely see Mary sticking around and changing GM for the better. She needs to be aggressive with this, and take GM by the horns. Hopefully she has success. It sounds like it, and I hope more for her.

Let the heads roll engineering & design I would start recruiting everywhere looking for young up and coming designers & engineers . Bring on the hatchet man things must change or you are going under GM.

I love the US and I really want the our auto industry to finally regain its stride in world class quality, design and perception, but this kind of shady and lazy business happens all to often for the Big 3 to completely shake its negative reputation in this generation of buyers.

Not only do the BIG 3 often struggle by being a step behind industry leaders in engine technology (Cadillac/Chevy Volt excluded), but cover ups and embarrassing scandals are quickly becoming the new American industry tradition.